Finally, we are up to date with the update videos! This is the most recent update, assembled today, as this very website itself was being put together!
I used Panzer Front as an outline for what Parabellum should be, but I wanted to add in unique elements to help Parabellum feel like it’s own game, and to make it a bit more engaging for people who perhaps aren’t as interested in tanks as me.
As part of this, I had planned to introduce a very simple cinematic event system, that would trigger on key events and add a bit of flair to the proceedings. There was an element of this in Panzer Front, but it was a very simple camera zoom when a vehicle was destroyed, without much cinematic flair.
I took inspiration from a few sources; films, naturally, but also Fallout 3‘s “VATS” system, and Sniper Elite‘s slow-motion kill camera.
The idea is, when the game determines you’re about to fire a shot that will cause an enemy’s destruction, it triggers this short sequence. The lengths of each segment, in addition to the cameras themselves, are all configurable. It manually handles the firing of the cannon, and the death of the enemy vehicle, so as to prevent any edge-cases that will ruin the effect.
I like the angle used for firing, but I’m less happy with the final angle. I’m tempted to point the final camera back towards the player vehicle, so you get a sense of space and scale, and so you understand spacially what you’re looking at.
This isn’t a priority feature, though, so it’s going on the backburner for a while now it’s proven out.
Parabellum 